Wrench



1. BRESNAHANYAND A. DAVIS.

WRENCH.

APPLICATlON FILED APR. I9, 1920.

Patented 0c't.12,1920;

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UNITED STATES? ITOHN BRESNAHAN .AN'D ARNOLD DAVIS, OF NEW'ARK NEW JERSEY.

WRENCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 12, 1920.

Application filed April 19, 1920. Serial No. 374,841. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN BRESNAHAN and ARNGLD Davis, citizens of the United States, and residents of Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in renches, of which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates to an improved wrench which has a sliding aw coiiperating with a fixed jaw, and is so constructed that the sliding jaw, when manually operated, can be freely slid in both directions, but which has means for preventing the retreat of the sliding jaw, the sliding jaw being further equipped with a means for giving it a limited extension so that it can be tightly bound against the element that is to be grasped between the jaws, and when so tightly bound, the means for releasing the sliding jaw to its limit of retreat is locked against any release, so that once the jaws are tightly fitted against an element, such as a nut, the wrench is held in place. The wrench can be used, however, as an ordinary wrench without such tight looking with the elements, which use is preferable when the wrench is to be repeatedly replaced on an element, for instance, when the location is such that a complete rotation of the handle is not possible.

The invention is further designed to provide a wrench which has releases both for the extension means and the locking means in substantially close proximity, so that they can be easily operated by the thumb or one of the fingers of the hand grasping the wrench.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a side view of our improved wrench, the shank being broken away at one point to more clearly illustrate the invention, and Fig. 2 is a front view of the wrench shown in Fig. 1.

The wrench comprises any suitable form of shank 10, which has a fixed jaw 11, this fixed jaw being preferably arranged at one end of the shank. The sliding jaw comprises a sleeve 12 which surrounds the shank loosely and is freely slidable thereon and has the main jaw part 13, which has its face opposed to the face of the fixed jaw to grasp elements such as nuts, and is provided with means for giving the jaw a limited extension, this means including a connection with an element which, in turn, is detachably locked against the fixed jaw. V

In the form shown the extension means consists of a worm 14 turning on a pin 15,

and for its better manipulation having a slight projection, such as a finger-piece 16, the worm being in mesh with the rack 17 on one face of a slide 18, which slide fits into a groove 19 on the front face of the shank 10. This groove, at its lower part, is provided with a ratchet 20, the teeth of the ratchet being engaged by a pawl 21 which is pivoted, as at 22, on the lower end of the slide 18, the slide being extended to form an ear 23 which extends into an opening in the pawl 21, the slide on each side of the ear 23 forming shoulders 24 to limit the inward movement of the pawl 21.

The pawl 21 is normally held in engagement with the ratchet by yielding means such as a spring 25, and is provided with a finger-piece 26, the outer end of the pawl extending upwardly so that the finger-piece is in proximity to the stem or finger-piece 16, so that they can be successively operated without changing the position of the hand.

It will be noticed that if the sliding jaw is held against upward movement on the shank, the pawl can not be swung to open.

position because its end can not swing out of the tooth since these teeth face upwardly. It will thus be seen that if the finger-piece 26 is pressed in, the sliding jaw is free to slide and it will move a slight distance, which permits the inner end of-the pawl to swing outward and thus clear the ratchet 20, so that when the wrench is grasped by one hand and the other hand pushes in the finger-piece 26, the sliding jaw can he slid to any desired point When it is slid to engage an element such as a nut, to grasp the nut between the faces of the jaws 11 and 13, and the finger-piece 26 is released to lock the jaw in position, the whole sliding jaw, including the slide 18, settles down just a little until the shoulder 24; rests against the pawl. This provides a slight clearance between the nut and the sliding jaw and the wrench can be used as an ordinary wrench is used. If, however, it is desired to lock the wrench in position. the worm 14 is turned, which forces the sleeve 12, and consequently the main jaw part 13, forward so as to extend the sliding jaw, since the worm operates against the rack 17, and a little pressure on the finger piece 16 binds the parts together,

I and when so bound the finger-piece 26 can not be pushed in to release the pawl, since the bottom edge of the pawl will not clear the tooth with which it is engaged.

In order to release the wrench from this locked position the worm is turned backward and this gives enough clearance between the jaws and the element grasped to permit the jaw to clear the top of the tooth with which it is engaged, and the slid ing jaw can then be freely slid along the shank.

r V The finger-piece 16 projects so that it ens gages the sliding j aw at the limit or" its rotation, and; in this way there is a limit placed permit their operation,' which casing however, is not shown in the drawing.

We claim:

A wrench comprising a shank with a fixed jaw and having a ratchet on one face, a sliding jaw on the shank, a worm mounted in the sliding j aw, a slide on the shank and having arack in mesh with the worm, a pawl pivoted on the slide and swinging inward to engage the ratchet, the pivot of the pawl being located opposite the ratchet so that when the pawl is swung from the ratchet the slide and its associated movable jaw 'is moved slightly toward the fixed jaw so that when the slide is held against such movement the pawl is looked in the ratchet against removal. 7 v

In testimony that we claim the foregoing, we have hereto set our hands, this 17th day of April, 1920. i a Y JOHN BRESNAHAN.

ARNOLD DAVIS. 

